To Crate or Not to Crate: That is the Question

There seems to be so much controversy about crate training. Some people think it’s cruel and others think it’s the only way to keep a dog.

I understand how it got a bad name considering dogs in puppy mills are often kept in crates and cages 24 hours a day.

But that’s not what we are talking about here. We are talking about training your dog to think of his crate as his own little den, a place that is all his where he can go to be alone, relax or sleep.

Have you tried crate training a dog, but was overly frustrated with the results? Don’t worry; you’re not alone; countless pet owners feel the same way you do.

There is no need to fret! There is a very simple solution to your crate training problems! You won’t have to listen to that frustrating whining keeping you up all hours of the night. Now you can go to work with the comfort of knowing your pet is safe and content, no longer living in anxious fear that their owner left them, never to return.

Any Alternatives to Crates?

Now I do have to mention, that not all dogs will take to crate training. In those cases, a playpen or a closed off room (kitchens and bathrooms are often good choices) might be a better choice. I have a dog who totally freaks out if she even sees a crate. I won’t even try it with her because I know she is just too afraid of them for some reason.

Crate Training a Dog the Proper Way

The original purpose, and what is still considered primary reason to crate train a dog is for housebreaking; dogs prefer not to soil their bedding if they can help it.

Step 1

Introduce your dog to their new crate. Let them walk around it, explore it, smell it. Talk with them in a happy, cheerful tone; praise them for entering and moving around their crate.

Consider tossing small food rewards into the crate every so often. The purpose of this early stage is to show them the crate means good things, it is a ‘happy’ place.

Leave the door/entrance to the crate open at this stage; let them choose when to enter and exit.

DO NOT force them inside the crate!

Step 2:

Begin feeding your dog their meals inside the crate. This will cause them to make yet another pleasant association.

If your dog seems comfortable with his/her crate, you may start to close the door while they are eating (but if they notice, and begin to whine to be let out, open the door!

The very first few times you do this, open the door immediately after they are done eating.

Step 3

Slowly begin to lengthen the ‘confinement’ periods during this stage of crate training and only do it while you are at home. For example- 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, 40 minutes, etc. That is only one week’s’ worth of training periods, so it shouldn’t feel in any way overwhelming.

The Psychology of Crate Training a Dog

One of the main things to successfully crate train a dog, and consequently what so many pet owners fail to grasp, is understanding why a dog may become anxious around their crates when they are confined or when you leave them alone.

Dogs become anxious when their ‘pack leader’ leaves them in a confined area; they think either you are angry with them for some unknown reason, or you left them, and will never return.

This is why it is so very important to go about this process slowly and not further increase their anxiety by becoming agitated! You want the transition to be easy and smooth for them. They shouldn’t easily notice the duration you crate them is slowly increasing.

Repeat step 3 multiple times a day at first, always while you are home.

Step 4

Once your dog is comfortable being left crated for an hour or so, you can begin leaving them crated while not at home.

Don’t suddenly leap into crating them for the standard 9-5 work day! Dogs, very much unlike cats, are pack animals; such long duration are not natural to them. If you need to crate your dog while at work, be sure to gradually move up to it.

Think 8-9 Hours is Too Long to Crate Your Dog?

I won’t lie; this isn’t ideal. Hopefully you can come home at lunch time, or have a dog walker come in. Or if you are going to be gone for long periods of time, keep your dog blocked off in a room with access to water, some fun chew toys and a potty pad and just leave the crate in there with the door to it open.

Sometimes though, the crate is the only option you have.

If you think this is too long for dogs to be caged, that such periods are ‘cruel’, please consider this: The average shelter animals spend 80% or more of their lives in a cage that is often considered too small for them.

Though this may be considered a long time to crate a dog, the conditions you are offering almost certainly far outweigh the potential alternatives (which could range from living out their lives without a family to death at the end of a syringe, or even ‘humane’ suffocation via gas chamber).

Make It Natural

The proper way to crate train a dog focuses on their already natural affinity as a den animal. Your dog’s crate should feel like a home, a refuge, a place for him or her to feel safe. It should feel comfortable, lined with soft bedding (a blanket perhaps; they shouldn’t be exposed to metal lining the bottom of the crate). Leave a favorite toy in the crate with them.

What NOT to do:

Don’t crate your pet as a punishment.

Don’t associate the crate with yelling!

Don’t bother or try to play with your pet while they are in their crate if it can be avoided; in many cases, they sought refuge to be left alone.

Don’t call from work and try to leave a voice message on your machine for them to hear. This will only serve the exact opposite effect you’re going for, increasing their anxiety and confusion.

Don’t make an enormous deal before leaving for long hours each day. This, again, will likely increase the chances of ‘separation anxiety’. Rather act normal, like leaving is no issue to worry about and a mild occurrence. Try not to shower them with praise upon returning either, but rather treat your arrival home ‘matter of factly’.

Owners make this last mistake constantly! Keep In Mind: If not trained correctly, your dog can easily feel trapped and frustrated when crated.

Do you use a crate for your dog? Or have you tried and it just didn’t work out? Leave a comment and let us know about your experience and what you think about crate training.

Comments

My little loves her den we keep a blanket over the sdes and top and she just goes in when she wants time out we close the gate when we go shopping and at night when we go to bed to keep her safe. We have done this since she came to our family when she was 5 weeks old she has never cried or felt anxious so yes I am all in favour of crate training

We’ve had our new chi baby for a week now and it’s going very well granted my son is home from school and he’s making the crate training easier by letting him in & out several times a day . I’m in hopes that by the time school starts back up in August our baby will be able to handle the 4 to 5 hours I’m gone to work . Wish us luck !

I have crate trained my chi babies from the day I brought them home. It worked very well. My family has crate trained all the fur babies we’ve had in the past. My babies love their ‘bedrooms’. They have their favorite blankets and they go in to take naps, on their own. My little guy sleeps on our lap, but he has a lot of fur and gets hot. (they are long coated) He will go into his ‘bedroom’ and sleep on his blanket. When it’s bed time they run into their crates and wait for me to close the doors. They aren’t upset at all. They know it’s bedtime and everyone goes to sleep. They do the same thing when we have to leave. We tell them to get in their kennels and they run and get in and wait there for me to close the door. I always give them a treat and say ‘good puppies’. They know it’s only temporary and we’ll be back. They don’t get upset. They are sweet, wonderful, happy, little love bugs!!!

Both of my chi’s are crate re-trained. Nuggie was from a puppy mill rescue and Kato from a drug house bust.
I got a large crate that they both go into at night or when I leave.
They are no longer afraid of my leaving. Kato goes on and out all day long but, Nuggie only goes on at night to sleep. I’ve made it soft ( foam pillow base with two blankets. They burrow under one).
When I tell them it’s ” Night night time” they go in and I wait for them to get settled then I close the door.
Since summer is rainy season in Florida I cover their crate and they go in til the storms are over. It’s been better for them since they are together in the crate. Individual crates was too stressful.

The other reason I believe in crate training is I had lived in a duplex and the other side caught on fire, I wasn’t home at the time and the firefighters were able to safely get my lil furbaby out safely. They didn’t have to look for her in the smoke.
I keep my dogs crate relatively close to the front door so they can see and be seen.
Another reason to crate train is for their safety when I am not there.

I rescued Minnie when she was 8 months of age. She had the tail end of kennel cough so I had to quarantine her from my other dog. It was hard at first because she wasn’t crate trained. It seemed she didn’t like her crate that much while being quarantined and would cry. After she got over the kennel cough, I left the crate door open for her and she didn’t use it at all. It took a couple weeks before she was even interested in sniffing around the crate. Once I started working, it took another couple weeks of having to pick her up and put her in the crate and shutting the door. Then one day when it was time for me to go to work, I walked into where the crate was and she followed me. I pointed to the crate and she got in. I don’t know what changed but ever since then, she gets in the crate pretty much on her own when I tell her to.

I’m glad you people are all happy with crate training your furbabies………but I consider mine part of my family, my children sort of. And, I would never consider putting my child in a crate and locking them in. To me that is like putting them in jail. Just because you don’t want them to have accidents during the night cause you don’t want to get up to let them out…….or because you don’t want to clean up a mess when you get home………For me……..I just can’t do that to my sweet little Chis.

You are totally entitled to your belief Ruth and personally, I have never crated my own dogs.But I fully understand the need for some of them to be crated and done properly, most dogs like having their own little “room”.

Personally, I crate my little guy to keep him safe. Not to punish, not because I’m lazy, but because I have had chi’s who jumped off the couch and hurt their leg or gotten into something else they shouldn’t have when no was there to supervise. My chi’s crate is the largest you can buy. Toys and bed on one end, food and water on the other. He goes in there on his own all the time. I think he looks at it as an extension of the couch.

good for you Ruth….I imagine most of us who do crate work. My baby is nervous and shy I adoped him when he was 2. The crate offers a safe place for him to go to when he gets nervous or stressed. Also, for his safety I crate him while I am away.

He gets plenty of non crate time and I play with him when he is out of crate.

My dog is my baby too so dont even entertain the thought that we craters dont consider our fur babues our children because we do but not unlike you we recognise our puppies are in fact animals first.

Maybe if you have to leave your dog locked up for 8 hours at a time and more, then perhaps you ought to not own a dog. I had an acquaintance that locked her Cocker Spaniel in a crate for 11 hours (at minimum) per work day. The dog barely had room to turn around and he regularly pee’d in his crate. He had no food or water until his mistress returned home. Please – if you have to lock your dog up most of the time, maybe you should consider getting a canary or an indoor cat, or fish. I’m NOT against crating, I crated my own whippet, but I was able to return home at noon to walk her, then return to work. Four or 5 hours was the longest she was in a crate without a break. Crating for hours on end is solitary confinement. I know, that’s just my opinion, but consider your dog’s mental and physical health. Do unto others. I wouldn’t want to be locked up >5 or 6 hours at a shot, so I will never do that to my pet. Crate training and enclosure, yes. Hours on end imprisonment, no.

I agree with you Claire but some people already have their dog when life circumstances change and they have to leave them for longer hours. I believe in those cases, they should hire a dog walker to come in mid day or at the very least block off a room with food, water and a potty pad so they are comfortable.

I crate train my dogs as well, and start when they are babies….we had a brother/sister pair and let them use the same crate as both were fixed. The crate was in the kitchen and the door left open most of the time, we also had a “slide gate” at the kitchen door so they could have run of the kitchen but I didn’t want them on the living room carpet till they were potty trained. We started with doggie litter and when they destroyed a 50# bag of it all over the kitchen, we got them pee pads.
when we left the house the dogs went with us as they were training to be service dogs, Bearbear was our ears, and Munchie our medical alert dog.
We miss Bearbear terribly, and can’t even say his name in front of Munchie (if she hears his name, the search is on and he’s been gone six years now).

I think they discontinued the dog litter at Petsmart, but it was great while they had it. That’s Munchie in the front and Bearbear hiding behind her, as you can see from the next pic, they were VERY close.

My daughter-in-law has a 3lb chihuahua about 5 months old.Sadie hates the crate. She chewed through the soft crate, then she had a metal one & pawed at it so much made her paws bleed. Then they got one of those outside toddler play pens about waist high so she could have a larger open space & she gets out of that.She is very determined!
Any suggestions they both have to work& are probably gone 8hrs.

Can they put her in a room like a bathroom or kitchen and close it off with a baby gate or close the door? Growing up, we kept our dogs in the laundry room when we weren’t home to keep them from getting into stuff.

Sounds like separation anxiety. There are some excellent tips on this site, but I would start with her favorite treat and toy…putting her in there for 5 minute increments with the door open, maybe once every hour until she starts to have a positive association with it. Good luck!

My chi did that as well. I talked to the vet and he recommended giving her “composure”, it is a calming dog treat. Works great, you can get it at the vet or on Amazon. I have not had any other issues with her since giving her the composure.

Trackbacks

[…] If you are going to crate train your puppy, now is the time to introduce the crate. You shouldn’t close the door, just give him the option of going inside. Make it inviting by placing a comfortable bed and a toy or two inside the crate. Dogs introduced to a crate early find it a place of comfort and security and have less difficulty being left alone in the crate while you are away. All dogs have different, unique personalities. Prepare ahead of time for his arrival and give him options once he comes home. You can read more here about crate training. […]

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Cathy is an avid dog lover and has had many dogs throughout her life. When she rescued her first Chihuahua, she was hooked on the breed.
Cathy has several other blogs and also builds websites.

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